Monsanto predicts long wait for planting licenses in Mexico

Mexico City-a ban on the planting of transgenic corn in Mexico is expected to continue for years as a legal battle unfolds, said a major u.s. company Executive of seeds and agrochemicals.
Last week, a Mexican court maintained a determination by the end of 2013 that temporarily suspended even pilots plans GM corn, after a legal questioning about its effects on the environment.
"It''s going to take a while for all the evidence to be presented," said the Corporate Director of Monsanto, Laura Tamayo, in an interview. "I think we''re talking about years."
The deadlock occurs at a time when imports of yellow corn for Mexico will climb by more than a fifth in the next harvest due to higher production costs and a weak peso, up from 15 million tons in 2016/17 harvest that ends in March.
While Mexico is self-sufficient in the production of white corn used to produce tortillas of the country, it depends on imports of yellow corn from the United States for transgenic cattle.
For many years, Monsanto has submitted two proposals for the commercial planting of transgenic corn in Mexico.
Both sought 700,000 hectares in the State of Sinaloa, the largest corn producing region of Mexico that is located in the Northwest of the country. However, the proposals are still pending.